News

This life

Friends of Liverpool sales rep Michael Blake, killed in a car crash last year, thought their trip to the World Cup wouldn’t be the same without him. So they’ve taken him along to Germany as a life-size cardboard cut-out. “We couldn’t go without him,” said Scott Macmillan, from Liverpool. “He drinks with us, and even goes out dancing with us.” Michael, aged 27 when he died, even celebrated with his friends after England beat Paraguay. “We were dancing with Michael when the DJ played Oasis. They were Michael’s favourite band and we all got a little tearful. It was a special moment.”

Memory lapse of the week

A shoplifter tried to evade capture by biting a policeman on the arm, but the 70-year-old thief had come out without his dentures, according to police in Braunschweig, Germany.